This invention relates generally to wireless telecommunications services, and in particular to implementing customer group functionality in a wireless environment.
When wireline (sometimes referred to as landline) telephone service is sought from a local telephone service provider, an employee of the telephone company obtains from the customer the relevant information necessary to implement the desired service. Such information can include billing information, contact information, and the particular features, such as call waiting, call forwarding, and calling number identification presentation, which the subscriber would like set up for their phone. This information is then used to xe2x80x98provisionxe2x80x99 the appropriate equipment. The provisioning process generates an electronic subscriber xe2x80x98profilexe2x80x99 that contains relevant information relating to the subscriber, and which is used by the wireline equipment to implement the desired service for the subscriber. This process, from the information acquisition stage through the provisioning stage, is relatively labor intensive and consequently costly for the service provider.
In some circumstances, a large number of subscribers may be provisioned for identical services. For example, when a company sets up a new facility, hundreds or even thousands of telephones may need to be provisioned for service with a service provider, and each telephone may have associated with it the same, or substantially the same, services. The use of a xe2x80x98customer groupxe2x80x99 can ease what might otherwise be a substantial manual effort in entering identical information in the profile of each subscriber. A customer group contains a group profile for a group of subscribers having a set of common services, or features. Each subscriber in the group receives the features activated in the customer group profile, even if the feature is not activated in the subscriber""s individual profile. For example, each subscriber associated with a particular customer group can be provisioned with call waiting by provisioning the group profile, without having to modify each subscriber""s individual profile. The use of a customer group can greatly reduce the labor that would otherwise be required to similarly provision a large number of subscribers. Moreover, it helps ensure uniformity of features for each individual line.
The popularity of wireless telecommunications services is growing rapidly, at least in part because of decreasing subscription costs due to competition among providers. As the market matures, it is becoming increasingly important for such providers to distinguish themselves on items other than costs, such as, for example, on the different services they can offer a subscriber.
Customer group functionality is typically not available in wireless services. This is in part because call processing in the wireless arena is more complicated than call processing in the wireline arena. In wireline telecommunications, calls placed by the same subscriber always originate at the same switch. Thus, services provisioned for a subscriber need only be stored in one location, i.e., the switch that originates the subscriber""s call. When processing the call, the switch is programmed to check the calling party""s subscriber profile to determine feature availability, and if the subscriber profile indicates customer group membership, the switch also acquires the appropriate customer group profile.
In contrast, in wireless call processing, the particular mobile switching center (MSC) that provides service to the calling (wireless) party can differ depending on the location of the wireless subscriber. In the wireless world, a home location register (HLR) associated with a particular subscriber maintains the subscriber""s profile, which includes billing information and the features provisioned for that subscriber, as well as the current location of the subscriber. Each mobile switch is associated with a visitor location register (VLR). When an MSC determines that a wireless subscriber station has come within the service area of the switch, a message is sent to the HLR of the subscriber requesting the subscriber""s profile. This information is then stored in the VLR associated with the MSC. The protocol for communications between an HLR and a VLR is typically either IS-41, or GSM. Neither IS-41 nor GSM include messages specifically designed to provide customer group functionality.
It is becoming increasingly common for companies to offer wireless phones to a group of its employees, such as the sales force, for example. Typically each member within the group will have substantially the same features, such as calling number identification presentation, call waiting, distinctive ringing, or other such features. It would be desirable for the wireless service provider to be able to provision a single customer group with the requested features rather than having to modify each individual subscriber""s profile, both to simplify the provisioning process and to ensure uniformity of services across all subscribers in the group.
Thus, it is apparent that it would be desirable to provide customer group functionality in the wireless telecommunications environment.
To achieve the foregoing and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, a method and system for implementing customer group functionality in a wireless environment are provided. The present invention eases service provider provisioning processes, reducing labor costs and ensuring uniformity of services over a specified group of subscriber stations.
A group table that is operative to contain group data associated with a group of wireless subscriber stations is established in, for example, an HLR. The HLR also contains a subscriber table that is operative to contain subscriber data for several wireless subscriber stations. The subscriber data for a respective wireless subscriber station includes feature data. A request is received from a network element, such as a mobile switch or VLR for example, for information relating to a wireless subscriber station. The subscriber data associated with the wireless subscriber station is obtained from the subscriber table. Group data referenced by the subscriber data associated with the wireless subscriber station is obtained from the group table. In response to the request from the network element, a message including information based at least in part on the content of the group data referenced by the subscriber data is sent by the HLR to the network element.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the group data maintained in the group table includes feature data associated with a group of wireless subscriber stations. The information sent to the network element includes unified feature data that is derived from the feature data from the subscriber data associated with the wireless subscriber station and the feature data from the group data referenced by the subscriber data. The feature data can indicate whether a respective feature, such as calling number identification presentation or call waiting is enabled. The unified feature data can be derived by examining the feature data from the subscriber data and the feature data from the group data. If the respective feature is indicated as enabled in at least one of the subscriber data and the group data, the unified feature data for the respective feature is indicated as enabled. The information can be sent to the network element by a home location registration (HLR) associated with the respective wireless subscriber station. By creating unified feature data from the subscriber and group feature data, and sending such information in a message to the network element, the standard protocols, such as IS-41 and GSM need not be modified to implement customer group functionality in a wireless environment according to the present invention. Further, the mobile switch and/or VLR need not be modified to implement customer group functionality in the wireless environment.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the network element, such as a switch or VLR, maintains two tables, a subscriber table that can contain subscriber data for each of several wireless subscriber stations, and a group table that can contain group data associated with a group of wireless subscriber stations. An HLR receives a request from a network element for information relating to a wireless subscriber station. In response to the request, the HLR obtains information relating to the subscriber station from the subscriber table and the group table, and sends to the network element at least one message that includes information based at least in part on the group data. According to one embodiment of this invention, the HLR generates and sends two messages to the network element. One message contains the information from the subscriber table, and the second message contains information from the group table. According to this aspect of the present invention, the protocol used to communicate between the HLR and the network element, such as IS-41 or GSM, may be enhanced to accommodate the communication of a group profile. By maintaining a group table for group data, the network element need only obtain group information for subscriber stations for which the network element does not already have a group profile. The use of a separate group table can decrease the amount of processing carried out by the HLR, because the HLR need not generate unified feature data. A separate group table can also be used to implement features on a customer-group only basis.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a home location register is provided. The home location register includes a group table that can contain group data associated with a group of wireless subscriber stations. The HLR further includes a subscriber table that can contain subscriber data for each wireless subscriber station. The subscriber data for a particular wireless subscriber station includes feature data and a reference to group data associated with the wireless subscriber station. The home location register can receive a request from a network element for information relating to a wireless subscriber station. The HLR obtains group data referenced by the subscriber data associated with the wireless subscriber station from the group table. The HLR sends to the network element a message that includes information based at least in part on the contents of the group data referenced by the subscriber data.
The present invention implements customer group functionality in a wireless environment. According to one embodiment of the present invention, customer group functionality can be implemented in an existing wireless environment without modification of certain existing network elements, such as mobile switches and/or VLRs. Such functionality can greatly reduce service provider labor and costs incurred in provisioning subscriber stations, and can help reduce provisioning errors.
Still other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description wherein there are shown and described preferred embodiments of this invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other different obvious aspects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.